Southern Indiana Business July-August 2020 | Page 25

said of Hay. “But she was really hard-nosed
and knew what she wanted. Many called
her a politician instead of an organizer.”
From prominent family to prominent
role
Hay wasn’t the only Southern Indiana
native to make her way out east. Another
figure of the era came from one of New
Albany’s more well-known families.
Blanche Culbertson was the daughter of
one the city’s richest men, William Stewart
Culbertson, who had made his fortune
through business ventures and investments.
The family is probably best known for its
still-standing Culbertson Mansion, which
graces the Mansion Row corridor of New
Albany.
Education was important in the Culbertson
household. Young Blanche was insulated
by strong women and a father who
was a supporter of women’s suffrage.
“In the late 1880s, [William] founded
Southern Indiana’s primary committee for
women’s suf-frage,” said Susannah Koerber,
Chief Curator and Research Officer
at Indiana State Museum and Historic
Sites. “He is actually supporting women’s
suffrage. He personally invited Susan B.
Anthony to speak at a big convention in
New Albany in 1887 that featured Anthony
and a num-ber of other figures.”
A university education from the Ogontz
School, an all-women’s campus, would
further cement Blanche’s status as a pioneer
for the movement. There, she was
surrounded by even more women in leadership
positions.
After the death of her father in 1892,
Blanche became romantically involved
with a man named Leigh Hill French. Her
father was open in his dismissal of French
as a suitable partner, noting in his will that
Blanche would be cut out of her inheritance
if she married French.
What followed was an elopement that
saw Blanche and French settle in New
York. There, she continued her involvement
with the suffrage movement.
A 1911 parade in New York City prominently
featured Blanche. With thousands
women in attendance and plenty of media
coverage, Blanche was placed front and
center, being carried through the streets of
the metropolis in a sedan chair.
Like Hay, Culbertson was able to see her
work finally pay off once women won the
right to vote.
“When you think from 1851 to 1920,
that’s a long time,” Koerber said. “She was
seeing that as a child. She was encouraged
in her own ambitions. She died in 1924,
which means she did get to vote. She did
get to see the end of it.”
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